Day of action

To the people who refused to take my bins this morning I would like to remind you that I have paid for this service, and will be changing company this month, so enjoy your "day of action".

Happy Valley Beijing

The Inbetweeners (TV Show)

This Show came out of nowhere, and bit me on the ass. An absolutely fantastic show about 4 school friends, and their journey trough teenage life and their voyage of discovery. This show is like a mix of English (American) Pie, Catholic Boys (1984) and a modern Adrian mole. There are times when you have to laugh out loud, and remember the shenanigans you got up to when you were young.

The only fault i can find with it was season 1 was too short, and I am hungry for more.

Silver Wing Adventures Wicklow

Glenmacnas

Glendalough

Silver Wing 600

I have recently bought a Honda Silver Wing 600, and am putting it trough its paces. First impressions are that it's a dream to ride. It has the appearance of a Scooter, but it is an animal on the road. This bike has a fantastic acceleration because of its automatic transmission.

How I lost 6kg in 14 days

The way you should be feeding your body for this program is high protein, low carbohydrates & low fat. For your first few weeks you should be extra strict as possible on yourself. The key to sticking to your program is by preparing your food in advance, and this can be frozen to be used at a later date. Remember if you don’t exercise you are not burning off your carbs so you need to take in a lot less than a person who is exercising.
The first groups of foods you should avoid is

Breads
Bagels,
Rolls,
Sandwiches,
Wraps.

Sugars
Sweets,
Chocolate,
Fizzy drinks

Dairy
Cheese,
Yogurt,
Cream,
Milk*
*I could not survive without milk so instead use Slim line milk from the pink carton

Starchy Foods
Potatoes,
Chips,
Pasta,
Rice (in moderation is ok)

Other
Fatty meat,
Pork products,
Processed meats,
Sauces such as gravy and packet sauces.
Mayonnaise,
Oils, cook with olive oil.
There are plenty of good foods out there for you to eat, and again you should be aiming for low carb, low fat & high protein.
Remember always read the nutritional information on the packaging.
I asked for a roast chicken breast in the chipper last week, and the first thing he did was put it in the fryer.
Good Foods
Fish
Almost all fish is good for you such as Tuna, Salmon, Cod*, Hokey, Haddock all good
*Fresh Cod from the chipper is not acceptable.
I eat fish with sugar free beans (never the other kind)

Chicken
Breast, Leg, fillet all without the skin. The skin contains a huge amount of fat.
No wings.

Steak
Non fatty red meat is a great source of protein as well as being low in fat & carbs, but be carefull what you eat with it. You should choose a salad or veg to eat with your steak.

Eggs
If you like eggs, and omelettes your diet has got easier as they are a great food. You can spice up your omelette by adding a range of herbs and spices along with other food complements.

When making your omelette use 3-4 whites, and only 1 yoke.

Wheatabix
A great breakfast, and will set you up for the day. Remember Slim line milk.

Apples
Great to snack on during the day

Vegetables
Try to eat veg with your meals

Juice drinks
Only pure juce, no sugar. I have been drinking tons of orange juice.

Nuts
Great as a little treat, but don’t eat top much. Dry roasted, avoid anything cooked in oil.
No chocolate or yogart nuts.

Tea & Coffe
These are fine as long as you watch the fat content in the milk, and no sugar.

Water
Great for you

Sweetners
Always carry a packet of sweetners on you.

Chinese toilets "ENEMY"

IMPORTANT

Instructions for "western cubicales",

1. Enter cubicle,

2. Turn around

3. Make deposit

4. Clean

5. Leave

.

.

VERY IMPORTANT

Instructions for "Chinese cubicles",

1. Enter cubicle

2. DO NOT TURN AROUND, KEEP YOUR BACK TO THE DOOR, OR FACE THE "GULLY"

3. Make deposit, AT THIS STAGE IF YOU HAVE DECIDED TO IGNORE STEP 2 YOU WILL HAVE A NICE "SPLASH" EMERGING FROM THE "GULLY" A RESULT OF DISPLACEMENT CAUSED BY YOUR DEPOSIT.

4. Clean (how much will depend on whether you followed step 2 or not)

5. Leave

.

.

You will only make this unpleasant mistake once in your life!

Chinese finger counting

In the "west" we count on our fingers, and when we want to display (between 1-10)these numbers to other people we hold up this amount of fingers. The flaw with this is that any number over five, and we have to use two hands. The Chinese however have a "better" method, and that is to just use on hand for all numbers between 1-10. There are small regional variations

It is so simple its genius!

Ever wondered why there is no Patrol car to come when you need it?

Thats because it is sitting under a bridge beside Store St Garda Station for over 2 weeks gathering Bird Crap.

Bodies

I went to see the Bodies exhibition last week, and to be quite honest about it I was a little concerned about it first. I had reservations about was it right to display human bodies in such a fashion, but I decided in the end to give it a go. I know there is some controversy about where the bodies came from, and this aside, these were once living people. I taught that the bodies were not in great condition, and were disheveled from preservation. I found the section of blood vessels to be the most interesting part of the tour, and was surprised how big the pulmonary artery is. The bodies looked little more than a shanks of ham right down to the fibers, and this to me reflected our own mortality and how delicate we really are. I was surprised that I was not amazed with even one part of the exhibition, and nothing made me go "wow". As for the educational part of it I really don't think there is a need to display human bodies in such fashion, and while I do understand that over the years what we know of medicine today came from studying human samples. I did not learn anything that i could not have learned from a computer simulation of a plastic model. The cross sections of the bodies were less detailed (in my opinion) that a normal cat scan, and as such this was a gratuitous display of human remains. We must remember that these people were somebodies son or somebodies daughter, and as such should not be displayed in this way!

Gun Safety Tip (Don't discharge your gun with an obstruction in the barrel)

Ridiculous behaviour, enough said.

By the way these are not my guns, I would not do anything this stupid!

Taxi "Drivers", and their nonsense

I realise that things are tight and people have to earn a living, but lets draw the line, and say you don't have to be an asshole about it. Mark my words it's only a matter of time before someone gets killed because a taxi driver stops in an absolutely crazy place!

Real Irish Leprechaun

I seen this guy, and just had to take a photo. I was going to ask him where was his pot of gold, but he had the potential to talk a crock of shite so I left him alone.

12 years in a few seconds

1995 - 2007

Dexter (TV show)

Dexter is Miami Metro police employee who also just happens to be a Serial Killer.
I wont go any further with the plot or I will ruin it as in the show you get to know Dexter's story

Rating: Entertaining show.

Favorite character has to be Sgt Stokes.

"Rock Bottom" Chinese lesson #1

HAO
Hao (how) is the word for good, and can be used in many ways.

Hao chir = Good food.
Fei chung hao = Very good.
Ni hao = translated as "you good", it would be used as the equivalent of Hello.
Ni hao ma? = Are you good? or as we would say "how are you?".
Wo hen hao = "I am good" this is a response to "How are you", and really means "I am fine".
Bo hao = A polite way of saying "I don't want, I am good". "Do you want tea?, "No I am good".
Daja hao = "Everybody good" or "Hello everyone".

You can communicate in the simplest of ways even by nodding your head and saying "Hao" people will know what you are trying to say, or at least pretend to. Don't be surprised if you try to speak Chinese, and everyone bursts out laughing the Chinese will laugh to cover up their surprise or shock, and they are not actually laughing at you. This is a hard pill to swallow, as in Ireland laughing like this at a person could warrant a fist in the face.

You have also learnt other words today such as:

You =Ni
No = Bo
Food = Chir
Very = Fei chung
Everyone = Daja

Deer Hunting

3:10 to Yuma (My Review)

Was very impressed with the acting from Russel Crowe (who i do not like) in this movie, although it was in my opinion Christian Bale who stole this film. Bale played this role fantastically, and while i was not expecting much from this movie I am fantastically impressed, and will say it is one of the best films i have seen in years.

Plot in a nutshell,

Criminal gets caught, and attempts are are made to transport him to the train to Yuma. His gang try to rescue him.

10/10

Foxs Chocolatey....millionaire's shortcake

I discovered these today in Tesco on Parnell Street, and I gotta say they are delicious. You have to try them at least once.. Probably the best biscuit I have ever tried.

Chinese Food (Baozi)

These are a Steamed bun with a pork filling steamed in a bamboo basket. It is pronounced "Bow dze" with the dze like the English word buzz, if ya know what I mean. Anyway they are bloody lovely with Chinese Vinegar.

Glendalough Spink hillwalk in the Snow

Yesterday we went walking in the Wicklow Mountains, and we have had the worst snow in years.

Stage 1
We started out at approximately 12:00 from the Car Park at the upper lake, and walked west along the path on the north side of the upper lake. When we got to the miner's village all of the deer and goats had come down from the mountain into the valley because of the snow. I think we could have taken a hint from them, after all they are the real mountain experts.

Stage 2
We continued up the path to the foot bridge at a height of around 1200ft. We navigated this trough deep snow, and some times we found it hard to find the path. We crossed several gully's on planks thick with ice and snow on our assent to the footbridge. These gully's were partly hidden with snow and were sometimes hard to see.




We eventually reached the footbridge, where we surveyed our route to the top of the Spink. To be honest we could hardly make out our route past the cliffs. We took a short food break, and a hot cup of coffee was a welcome sight. We left our sheltered spot behind the old miners cottage, and proceeded on our way. This was the most precarious part of our journey, and we endured several falls into snow drifts of about 4ft. It was extremely difficult to keep on track, as it was covered in feet of snow. Soldiering on to the summit of the Spink we came increasingly closer to the side of the cliffs. i was glad to reach the summit of the Spink and could see the mountains and valleys from a perspective that many would never.

Stage 3
We continued our journey towards Poulnass Waterfall. Along the top of the cliffs we trekked close to the treeline at times, and many a times we fell flat on our faces, and sometimes on our backs. The boardwalk was like glass, and was almost impossible to walk on. Mind you the odd snowball across the back of the head did not make it any easier. When we started to fall their was not much you could do except try to land with a bit of grace amid the crunch of ice and snow under you. "Get up, laugh it off, move on" was our outlook, and considering we fell about 50 times it was the only outlook anyone could have. One broken leg or a twisted ankle or knee out here, and we would have had a problem. we were 2 hours from raising the alarm, and I did not bring my PSP.


Stage 4
Eventually the treeline was reached, and we started our descent trough the forest. The path here is underneath the trees, and is made of wooden steps. these steps are covered in ice and are impossible to walk on, and we added a few spectacular falls to our catalogue. Our final leg took us past the waterfall, and when the snow starts to melt the volume of water coming down the river must be something else.

We arrived back at our starting point at 17:20, changed our clothes and headed for home.

The Snow from my window Panorama

Chinese Food: yang rou chuan

These are yang rou chuan (yang row char), and I gotta tell you these are one of my all time favorites. Its barbecued lamb sticks dusted in seeds and chilly flakes.

God dam lovely

Poseidon (My Review)

A huge ship gets hit by a huge wave, and turns over. Some people tried to escape, and some of them made it.

Rating: Shite.

Whos in it: Kurt Russell, Fergie (from the Black eyed peas).

Fushun Morning Traffic Timelapse

I have for the past while been intrested in timelapse photography, and here is my first attempt

Poolbeg

On Sunday I went to Poolbeg lighthouse with a friend to spend a few hours on our photography hobby. The weather was bad, but not bad enough for intresting photos. All I got for my trouble was a lens full of salty water, but i wont give up.

Where next?

Mutant Chronicles (My Review)

Plot:

A machine is sent to earth (a long time ago), and it starts turning humans into mutants. A group of Priests defeat the mutants, and bury the machine. Later in the 27th century there is a huge war going on (they are all dressed as world war 2 type soilders, with flying craft & tanks powered on coal and steam). The machine gets uncovered, and starts turning humans into mutants again. Along come the priests ( who try to say the "our Father" in Irish in desprate accents), and try to defeat the machine once again.

Rating: "Fucken ball of shit"

Who's in it: Yer man from HellBoy, and that Asian bird from "The Fast and Furious".

Chinese Wedding Symbol

This is the Chinese symbol for marrige. It translates as double happiness, and it quite simply consists of the Chinese symbol for happiness used twice.

It appers at weddings all over China in different forms, but always means the same.

Start of Blog

Hello all,
I am starting this Blog just for the fun of it. In it I will post adhoc posts about various things.

I will also use this blog to publish information on our trip to Beijing in May 2009.


If you have any questions about our trip to China leave a post, and I will try to awnser your questions.

I hope this will be of intrest to you all, and see you soon.